LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 129

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

i

SEMINARY ISSUES 129

Districts who are appointed or elected, to sign the Statement;
and be it

Resolved, That those who refuse to sign A Statement be
removed from their position within the LCMS.

Resolved, That henceforth no elected delegate or alter-
nate delegate to a District or synodical convention be seated
unless the Synod, respectively the District, has been assured
that he understands and is in full harmony with Synod’s
traditional position on Scriptures and the Lutheran Con-
fessions.

Trintry LUTHERAN CHURCH
New Haven, Mo.
Larry Scheer, Secretary

3-454
To Require Subscription to “A Statement”

Wuereas, There exists in Synod two incompatible theolo-
gies, as indicated by Dr. Preus’ Report on the investigation
of the St. Louis seminary, by the faculty’s documents Faith-
ful To Our Calling, Faithful To Our Lord, and as admitted
by Dr. Paul Bretscher in his article “The Log in Your Own
Eye” (Concordia Theological Monthly, Vol. XLII, November
1972): “We have seen how our orthodox fathers were some-
how derailed. Two possible authority principles carried
through in the Lutheran Reformation. The one was... the
authority of the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word
of God. The other was .. - the authority of the Gospel.
The Reformation itself did not really sort out the new
authority from the old. Somehow it was the old stream
which in the end swept orthodoxy with it _and supplies the
foundation of its theological system.” Dr. Bretscher further
admits that the historic position of our church “perverts
Scripture and the Confessions, robs Christ of His honor,
and seduces consciences with a false comfort” and that the
basis of authority for his theology “is not the same authority
principle as the traditional one of the Bible’s inspiration”:
an

WuerEas, Subscription to Scripture and the Confessions
is obviously no longer adequate to maintain discipline and
the unity of the faith, inasmuch as Scripture and the Con-
fessions deal implicitly with these modern heresies, but are
not sufficiently explicit; and

Wuereas, Dr. Preus in his Statement of Scriptural and
Confessional Principles and the Commission on Theology
and Church Relations in its study of “Gospel and Scripture”
have provided our church with excellent contemporary
touchstones of orthodoxy; and

Wuereas, Christ has told us (Luke 11:17) “If one part of
any kingdom fights against another part, it loses its people”
(Beck), and the apostle Paul writes (2 Cor. 6:14 ff.): “Do
not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership
have righteousness and iniquity ... Therefore come out
from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord,” and
the prophet Elijah challenges us (1 Kings 18:21): “How long
will you go limping with two different opinions”; there-
fore be it

Resolved, That all leaders and teachers in the church,
including all officers, members of boards, commissions an
committees, pastors, c.r.m., missionaries, parochial school
teachers, professors and instructors be required to publicly
profess full and unequivocal agreement with the Statement
of Scriptural and Confessional Principles and “Gospel and
Scripture” within 6 months of this convention; and be it
further

Resolved, That those who fail or decline to so subscribe
to these documents be hereby requested in all honesty and
equity to resign frem their membership in The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod, and in the event of refusal to
so resign, the presidium proceed with excommunication ac-
cording to Matthew 18; and be it finally

Resolved, That the real property and tangible assets of
the Synod and its Districts, and where necessary, of indi-
vidual congregations, be equitably distributed on the basis
of the communicant membership involved in such division,
and this division to be effected by synodical and District
boards of adjudication appointed by Synod’s presidium to

obviate all appeal to civil courts. All communicant members

shall have one year from the time of this convention to file
claims to their proportionate assets to be transferred to a
Lutheran Synod of their choice.

Our Savior LUTHERAN CHURCH
Pinole, Calif.
Curtis Eattock, Secretary

Similar:

3-45B
Faith Lutheran Church, Mentor, Ohio, Ralph E. Behnly,
Secretary.

3-45C
Immanuel Lutheran Church Wahpeton, N. Dak., Edward
J. Rutter, Pastor; Earl G. Mittag, President.

3-46

To Bind Professors and Administrators
to “A Statement”

Wuereas. The President of Synod, Dr. J. A. O. Preus, had
appointed a Fact Finding Committee to conduct an inquiry
into the teaching and doctrinal position of the faculty of
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., and this being done after
years of growing turmoil in Synod over the doctrinal relia-
bility of this institution in these latter years, and

Wuereas, After the Fact Finding Committee had com-
pleted and released to Synod’s President its very thorough
study of the doctrinal situation at the St.Louis seminary,
and, after the Milwaukee convention had directed Synod’s
President to report to the Synod on the progress of all pro-
cedures involved, then it was that Synod’s President sent to
every congregation, pastor. and called male teacher in Synod
The Report of the Synodical President —a very extended
and thoroughly documented summary of the Fact Finding
Committee's work (hereafter called "The Summary Report”);
an

Wuereas, These documents demonstrate beyond any pos-
sible doubt the extensive doctrinal deterioration at the Saint
Louis Seminary; an

Wuereas, Our Synod can thus no longer hold itself to be
ignorant of the terrible seriousness of the false doctrine he-
ing perpetuated within our midst; and

Wuereas. During the history of the church it has often
become necessary for Christians loyal to their Lord Christ
to further confess their faith in special doctrinal statements
which particularly guard the treasure of the pure Scriptural
doctrine under attack at that time, to which statements the
church has a right and duty to bind its teachers and lead-
ers; and

Wuereas. The President of Synod has sent to all congre-
gations, pastors and called male teachers in Synod A State-
ment of Scriptural and Confessional Principles (hereafter
known as A Statement), which is “derived directly from the
Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions”; and

Wuereas. A Statement has been declared to be in har-
mony with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confes-
sions by Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Re-
lations; and

Wuereas, A “Study Edition” of A Statement has been
prepared and distributed, which shows beyond all doubt
its Biblical and confessional basis. and also its complete con-
formity with our synodically adopted doctrinal resolutions.
and the synodical Catechism, thus demonstrating that it is
in fact not a “new standard of orthodoxy,” but rather a pre-
cise and truly Scriptural statement of our Synod’s historic
confessional position on the issues now in controversy. and

Wuereas. A Statement clearly and directly refutes the
doctrinal aberrations so thoroughly documented in the Fact
Finding Committee’s Report, and our President's “The Sum-
mary Report”; and

Wuereas, The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son. and
our only Savior from sin, demands a complete loyalty to
God’s Word (Matt. 28:19), which loyalty will not allow a
continued tolerance of the doctrinal aberrations now exist-
ing among us; and